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Friday, December 15, 2017

Time Loops

Have you ever formed a time loop while tying your shoes? Probably not.
But have you ever read a book or watched a TV show or film where someone
experienced a day over and over again? It's more than déjà vu -- it's
actually happening on repeat, sometimes with different results,
sometimes with the same results, and it seems as if it will never stop
repeating - until, of course, the character finds a way to make it stop.Time loops are not to be confused with time travel, another of my favorite sci-fi plot devices. In time travel, one moves forward or backward in time, willingly or otherwise. Doctor Who has time travel. The Boys are Back in Town by Christopher Golden has time travel. Groundhog Day,
however, has a time loop. This film is so well-known that he is often
referenced by characters experiencing time loops; more than once, I've
read or heard a character say, "This is like Groundhog Day," rather than, "Gee, I'm experiencing a time loop!"Many movies and television shows have explored time loops. Consider, if you will, the episode "Shadow Play" on The Twilight Zone, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Life Serial," "Monday" on The X-Files, Supernatural's "Mystery Spot," or "And Those We've Left Behind" on Fringe.
Some of these loops have been comedic, others dramatic, with the best
ones (in my opinion) being those which deftly mix the two. Another clarification: Plots such as those in the television series Tru Calling and Seven Days
(the latter of which I sadly never saw when it aired) weren't
considered to be true time loops: both shows had worked off of a
second-chance premise, with Tru repeating a day in attempt to save
someone's life, while Frank used the Chronosphere (also known as the
Backstep Sphere) to go back in time seven days to "avert disasters."I really enjoyed Before I Fall
by Lauren Oliver, an intriguing and inventive novel in which the main
character, Samantha (Sam), is killed in an accident only 80 pages into
the book - then wakes up in bed, unharmed, only to find that it's not
the next day - instead, it's the same day, the morning of her last day.
She relives the day, bewildered and disbelieving. That evening, tragedy
strikes again. The day repeats again, and again, a few times over. Sam
does different things each time, spending one day being more cautious,
another throwing caution to the wind, still another being more
appreciative. It's an amazing book, and I highly recommend it. (And no, I haven't seen the movie yet.)Like the novel The Time Traveler's Wife, Before I Fall
has no overt sci-fi elements: there are no gadgets or gizmos or time
machines that the characters use, accidentally or otherwise. Neither of
those books have wizened characters who assist the protagonists with
magic or explain the rules of the game to them. Instead, Henry and Sam
have to figure things out (or make things up) as they go along. However,
while Henry has Clare to confide in, Sam tells no one; while Henry
travels through time involuntarily, Sam keeps repeating the same day
involuntarily.The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende, the
fantasy novel that has owned a piece of my heart since childhood, also
employs a time loop. It is not the main plot, but rather just one of the
many pieces of this elaborate and imaginative story. I don't want to
give anything away; I'd rather encourage you to pick up the novel and
discover things yourself. Whether or not you've seen The NeverEnding Story
movie (which I think is wonderful) or the subsequent sequels or other
film/TV attempts based on the book (which didn't compare), I implore you
to read the original book. Now, if you want to get technical, I haven't read the original, Die unendliche Geschichte, because it's in German, which I don't know. Instead, I've read the English translation by Ralph Manheim. But
I digress. Time loops are delicate things which not always treated so
delicately, nor do they always have to deal with delicate matters. Time
loops are not always handled or broken in the same way. Sam's story in Before I Fall is nothing like Phil's in Groundhog Day,
and when they finally break their loops, they do so in completely
different ways. The parameters and circumstances established by Danny
Rubin in Groundhog Day do not apply to Sam. Likewise, though
concepts such as chaos theory, the butterfly effect, and fate are
discussed to different degrees in many time loop stories, they are never
exactly the same - unless, of course, you personally choose to read
that book or watch that episode or movie over and over and over again -
which, in some cases, I wouldn't blame you for doing! When they're
really inventive and strong, time loop stories can be fascinating. Some
of these stories benefit from a second reading or viewing, because you
notice things you may not have noticed the first time through.Having
a lackluster weekend? Go read or watch someone dealing with a time
loop. Afterwards, you'll probably be happy that you are moving in a
forward direction . . . or are you?